


the first grave we dug

by NotSummer



Series: Vyirin Legacy [3]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: Compromise, Friendship, Gen, Master & Padawan Relationship(s), Mentors, Padawan, Philosophy, Sparring, relationship as in friendship whoops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-27
Updated: 2017-09-27
Packaged: 2019-01-05 22:48:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12198945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotSummer/pseuds/NotSummer
Summary: Battlemaster Rai is a bitter old soul, but a brilliant leader and general. She knows what it's like to face the trenches, and knows what it means to survive hard campaigns. It's her job to make sure her new Padawan can survive as well.Aurriin is an idealistic 16 year old, eager to prove herself to the Jedi who's been leading the campaign to end the Sith for once and for all now that the Revanite Crisis is over. She doesn't quite realize what she's signing up for.





	the first grave we dug

**Author's Note:**

> What's the phrase? War is hell? Yeah. That. Aurrin's got this shiny golden view of the world.

“Again.”

Aurrin nodded firmly at Master Rai, and ran through the kata again, pushing herself harder and faster.

“Again.”

Aurrin turned her head to stare at Master Rai. The Chiss stood immovable, not a blink or a twitch or a single facial expression. Aurrin did the kata another time.

“Again.”

Aurrin breathed in and out, regulating her emotions until she was a picture of Jedi serenity, and reran the kata.

“Again.”

“Master,” she said, “I am unclear on what I am doing wrong. My posture is correct.”

Rai’s expression doesn’t change as she repeats, “Again.”

Aurriin glares, and reviewed her kata, her mind desperately trying to find the flaw in her movements. None, of course- she was a prodigy duelist. That’s why she was Master Rai’s Padawan.

“Again.”

She stormed through the next kata, determined to get it right.

“Better. Again.”

What was different?

“Worse. Again.”

Her anger carried her through the next kata.

“Better. Again.”

Anger.

“Again.”

This- This isn’t the Jedi way. She faltered, trying to release her anger to the Force. She dropped to one knee, chest heaving as she tries to draw in more oxygen.

“Get up. Again.”

She closed her eyes and let her anger carry her through the next kata, blows against an imaginary enemy coming harder and harder.

Rai nodded. “Get a drink. You’re done.” Master Rai flicked her fingers and a bottle drifts over to Aurrin, hanging close enough to nearly brush her montrals. She grabbed it out of the air and carefully took slow swallows, trying to avoid a stomach ache.

“Your anger. Use it. In a real fight there’s no detachment. You must know how to use your anger and let it go.”

Aurrin met her Master’s eyes for half a beat before she looked down, thinking. Rai started to walk around the dojo, and Aurrin followed, trailing slightly behind. “It… That’s not like any Jedi teaching I’ve heard.”

Rai broke her serious mien to smile up at her taller Padawan for a second, a wry and bitter flash of teeth. “No, it’s not Jedi teachings. It’s military and survival teachings. You want to survive in a warzone? You want to save the men and women standing next you because you can with the Force?”

She huffed, shaking her head, and continued, “You cannot abide by the dogma of the Jedi and expect to excel as a leader on that field. The Jedi teachings lead to a disconnect with your troops. Bad. If your people doubt you, doubt your loyalty to them, you can’t lead. You’re shoulder to shoulder out their on the front line: brothers and sisters.”

“We must be united. There’s no democracy in a trench. No peace. No Code. No Republic. It’s you, your allies, and your enemies. There’s no place for ideals in a war zone, Aurriin.”

“I know, Master,” Aurrin said, blinking rapidly.

“You came to me to learn because you’re good and you want to fight. That still true?”

Rai took two quick strides to stop in front of Aurriin and look her in the eye. Aurriin had several centimeters on the Battlemaster, and yet she felt as if Rai was looming over her. “Of course,” she said, her voice huffing slightly. Aurrin was still out of breath, but Master Rai was legendary within the Order for her tendency to push Jedi initiates and padawans to the very edge.

Master Rai studied her for a few heartbeats, then nodded. “The rest of the day is yours. And I want an essay on why Jedi teachings break down in the warzone in three days. Colonel Pyutro and Captain Felinci are available for you to ask questions. Here’s their comm codes.”

Rai fished a piece of flimsi out of her utility belt.

She nodded at Aurrin, who bowed back, and Rai turned and strode towards the Council Room. “The council calls. As much as I’d like to pretend otherwise, you can’t solve everything with a lightsaber.” She grinned at Aurrin, and disappeared around the corner.

Aurrin shook her head, looking down at the piece of flimsi in her hand. She wasn't sure she would be capable of calling on her anger like Rai wanted, but… she made her way to her quarters, and knelt on her meditation mat, breathing deep. She reached for that irritation and anger that Rai had encouraged, and curled them around her being. Opening her eyes she twisted to see the mirror, clinging tightly to the anger.

Her amber eyes, normally a burnished gold to match her warm golden skin were now brighter yellow, red around the edges. She let go and the whirlwind, and her eyes dulled again to their normal color.

“I’m not a Dark Sider,” she stated firmly, “I’m… ensuring my people can survive.” She was a Jedi: they protect the citizens and the soldiers of the Republic.

She hesitated and then repeated Rai’s own favored motto, the one she was pretty sure Rai hadn’t meant her to overhear. “Victory at all costs.”

**Author's Note:**

> Rai is... far more complex than she lets on. She's bitter as hell about the things the Council made her do as a young Knight. As a Master. As Battlemaster. She's in the trenches leading from the front, and she knows exactly what the war takes. If she lets Aurriin go in completely unprepared, then she will have failed as a teacher.


End file.
